1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with blade dressing devices for the sharpening or conditioning of knife blades or other elongate objects or utensils. More particularly, the invention is concerned with dressing devices of the type including a pair of rotatable, toothed, biased-together disks cooperatively defining a circumferential dressing opening, in which a knife or the like is dressed (i.e., sharpened or steeled).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Man has required a means for sharpening knives, blades, and other edged utensils for thousands of years. The simplest sharpening device is an abrasive sharpening stone which is drawn over a blade or the like in an effort to create a sharpened edge. Effective sharpening using such stones requires considerable skill. A wide variety of more sophisticated sharpening devices have also been proposed, such as V-notch sharpeners intended to simultaneously sharpen both edge faces of a blade. Generally, these V-notch sharpeners do not provide any integrated control of blade angle, but depend upon the skill of the user to properly orient the blade for sharpening.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,646,653 describes a knife sharpening apparatus including a pair of opposed, toothed disks which cooperatively define a circumferential knife-receiving opening. Each disk has spaced apart, inclined, projecting teeth which mesh with the teeth of the opposing disk. The disks are also biased together by means of a spring arrangement. Other types of sharpening devices are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 989,692, 5,390,431, 4,090,418, 4,685,250, 6,290,582, 5,655,959, 4,672,778, 5,390,445, 5,478,272, 4,807,399, and 6,012,971, as well as published Patent Application No. U.S. 2004/0171337.
One particularly desirable edge sharpening technique seeks to form what is referred to as a gothic-arch edge. A gothic-arch edge presents symmetrical, convex blade side surfaces leading to a common knife edge. This type of sharpening is especially difficult to reliably obtain using conventional sharpening equipment of the type described above.
There is accordingly a need in the art for improved dressing or sharpening equipment for knife blades or other similar implements which can be used by consumers or other unskilled people while still obtaining a true gothic-arch edge.